Friday, September 28, 2007

While I've always thought 2 Jane Co.'s asteroid vase was interestingly cute, it's now climbed to a higher level of appreciation for me after seeing Michelle's purchased vase crammed full with blooming buds. How sweet it that?

For the daily "Must Read" link. While I will still be scouring the blogs, I am now accepting submissions from readers so feel free to shoot me an email with your own suggestion for the daily "Must Read" link. It can be from your own blog or someone else's. I only have one condition: the piece cannot be more than 1 month old.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I became mesmerized by the work of Ruth Borgenicht while scouring the October 2007 issue of Traditional Home. There was a piece on Charles Spada, who happens to own one of Ruth's works. What's unique about Ruth is she focuses on the composition of chain mail in the ceramic form. The result is truly stunning. Read and learn more about her here.

First let me say that I am a huge fan of your blog, and while I pore over design blogs and magazines, I am woefully inept in my own abilities. My husband and I just finished laying laminate flooring in our basement, and as I try to think about how it's all going to pull together, I would love some of your "Reader Q&A" input. I've sketched out my thoughts and the pieces we have in a post on my blog, and any input you would like to offer would be greatly appreciated! Mostly, I would like to nail my wall color down and the general color palette for the space, I'm dreadfully paranoid about picking something that won't work.

Your Q&A posts usually are the finishing touches to a room, while this qould really be more like pushing me in the right direction right from the beginning :) Although finishing touch suggestions would be appreciated as well!

Thanks for your time, I hope you can help me!Amy

Thanks so much for the kind words Amy. I feel your give me way too much credit, but I'll try and see if I can point you in a general direction. :)

Pictured below is an inspiration board Amy has put together. It shows some of the definites of her design that she has already chosen and some of the questions she is hoping to answer.

My suggestions are color based and quite simple.

First, I would place a privacy screen behind the sofa to delineate the play space from the living area. You could do this in the form of curtain panels hung from the ceiling or by painting a room divider screen in a shade similar to that shown in the picture below. I would accent the sofa with chocolate brown cushions for a popping contrast that would maintain the warmth.

Second, I would paint the walls a neutral khaki similar to the shade shown below. I feel the colors should be in the accents and the main color should be something light, considering it's a basement, but not bright, to maintain warmth.

And last, but not least, I would accentuate with some mid-centuryish art that is complimentary to the color scheme in a monochromatic way, yet is definitively noticeable, such as the Pistachio III print by Duplock. A simple abstract that could be easily interpreted into a DIY canvas art project of your own.

And that's it. Short and sweet. I'm sure you readers will have some fabulous suggestions for Amy as well. Please leave them in the comments below or visit her blog.